The pilot was taking a routine bathroom break when the co-pilot of an Air India Express 737 accidentally hit the control column while adjusting his seat. As the plane plummeted at a 26 degree angle from 37,000 feet, and with the cockpit door locked, the co-pilot panicked and failed to execute proper procedures.
The plane and its 113 passengers were saved when the pilot used an emergency code to get into the locked cockpit, jumped back into his seat and grabbed the controls to bring the plane out of its dive. It had already plunged 7,000 feet.
According to a report from India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the aircraft would have broken apart if the descent had continued. Thanks to the pilot’s quick actions, the aircraft was not damaged and no one was injured.
After the pilot regained control of the plane, he told passengers, who were in the middle of a meal when the jet plunged, that the plane had “went through an air pocket and that is why there was a rapid descent,” according to the report.
The aviation agency report concluded that the 25 year old co-pilot had not been trained in the specific scenario the jet encountered and “probably had no clue how to tackle this kind of emergency.”
